Toyota said that pure electric vehicle technology is not backward, and technology is lost to the big sofa, is it the sadness of the market?

Text/Tao Li

Although Toyota has surpassed the Volkswagen Group as the world's best-selling automaker for three consecutive years, and by the first half of 2023, Toyota Motor continues to rank first in global sales with sales of 5.41 million units, but for Toyota's future, the author still feels that there are many crises, at least in the new energy era, Toyota has a "hurdle" that is difficult to pass.

Recently, data released by Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Passenger Association of China, showed that the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the world reached 16.3% in the third quarter of this year (as of August), which has exceeded the 13.4% of last year, showing a continuous growth trend. Last year's Toyota sales of tens of millions, the sales of electric vehicles are only about 24,000 units, compared with Tesla and BYD, the two new energy vehicle giants, Toyota's sales are not even as good as the monthly sales of the two.

Of course, the sales gap is only a direct manifestation of the crisis, and the biggest problem, the author believes that the "car manufacturing concept" is somewhat out of step with the times. Not long ago, former CEO of Toyota Motor Akio Toyoda said that "Japan is by no means lagging behind in technical capabilities" regarding pure electric vehicles leading American and Chinese car manufacturers.

Although this sentence also makes many consumers feel funny, after all, the current recognition of Toyota's pure electric vehicle market is pitifully low, such as the previously launched bZ4X sales in August is only three digits, but in terms of technology, perhaps as Toyoda Akio said, it may not be backward. On the one hand, lithium-ion batteries were first developed by Sony Corporation of Japan in 1990, and Japan does have a deep foundation in batteries.

On the other hand, although former CEO Akio Toyoda has long scoffed at pure electric vehicles, Toyota has always invested heavily in the research of three electric technologies, including batteries. As early as 1993, Toyota embarked on the road of hybridization, and in 1997, Toyota launched the hybrid model Toyota Prius, when the domestic new energy vehicles were still in the ascendant, and Toyota Motor has obtained more than 20,000 electric vehicle research and development patents.

In addition to some brands such as Tesla and BYD have a long time of experience in the field of pure electric vehicles, most of the new forces represented by "Wei Xiaoli" have only begun to rise in the past five years or so, and most brands have come to this day by "buying, buying, buying", so many people prefer to call it an assembly plant, and it is difficult to say how much stronger than Toyota Motor in terms of technology.

In fact, Toyota can also solve problems by spending money. For example, the bZ3 jointly created by Toyota and BYD, this car is designed, developed, manufactured and sold by FAW Toyota, BYD Verdy Power provides batteries and motors, and from the sales point of view, its August sales are close to 6,000 units, which is not too bad.

In fact, in the author's opinion, when it comes to technology today, the impact on brand sales has been minimal. In the past, consumers often talked about the "three major pieces" when buying cars, and joint venture cars also relied on this to press domestic cars, but now, when you see a few people who buy trams, the first sentence will ask "how about the three electric technologies"? Obviously, "technology-only theory" is no longer feasible in the current market, as mentioned earlier, Toyota definitely has two brushes in terms of technology, but the new forces are winning in a good way to achieve "promoting strengths and avoiding weaknesses".

Although the new forces inevitably boast of technological progress, the most important place must be in the "experience", such as NIO's use of power exchange and excellent technology configuration to bring convenient and comfortable car experience to car owners; Xpeng relies on intelligence and automatic driving to bring car owners a unique technological experience; The ideal is to use the label of "daddy car" to create a scene-based car experience.

In other words, domestic brands can achieve overtaking with the help of new energy vehicles, not only relying on the three electric technologies, but more importantly, with the help of intelligent cockpits, automatic driving, etc. to create a better car experience, catering to the current consumers' diversified car needs. And when he saw Toyota's old-fashioned interior, almost everyone knew that in terms of experience, he was a few streets away from the new forces.

Even if Toyota's pure electric vehicles also rely on the gourd to draw scoops, installing several large screens in the car, but in the smoothness of the vehicle system and the intelligent experience of the whole vehicle, domestic new energy vehicles still have absolute advantages, and Toyota can't beat it naturally.

Written at the end:

When an "assembly plant" such as Li Auto relies on large sofas and large color TVs to sell 36,000 vehicles a month, many people question whether "big sofas win over technology" is the sadness of the automotive industry? But in the author's opinion, existence is reasonable, after all, consumers are not stupid. In the past, everyone chose limited space, more to adapt their own needs to the products of car companies, but now it is different, you can continue to choose economical, durable products, you can also choose products with a stronger intelligent and comfortable experience, and the so-called "technology is not backward", looks more like an excuse for not keeping up with the needs of the times.